A Swedish Gold-Seeker in the Northlands: The Case of Erik Alfred Oliver

A SWEDISH GOLD-SEEKER
IN THE NORTHLANDS:
THE CASE OF ERIK ALFRED OLIVER
L. ANDERS SANDBERG
Local and individual immigration histories are often about
success rather than failure.' The hardships of establishing a
farmstead are often conveyed, but less often do we find out about
the struggles of itinerant laborers who never aspired or managed to
become farmers. This is perhaps not strange. Those who failed to
establish a farm were perhaps not articulate enough to record their
histories, nor may they have had the time to do so. Established
farmers or businessmen, perhaps when retired, or through their
children or grandchildren, were more likely and able to record their
histories. This situation has colored our conception of the immi­grant
Swedes as conservative farmers and staunch supporters of
the Republican Party. More and more material is meanwhile being
unearthed which shows that many Swedes were workers who
entertained more radical thoughts.
Erik Alfred Oliver (originally Abrahamsson) was born on August
4, 1871, in the northern Swedish parish of Åsele in Västerbotten,
the son of Abraham Matson and his wife Dorothea (nee Danielsdot­ter).
The family lived in the village of Yxsjö, a poor community
which underwent fundamental changes in the latter half of the
nineteenth century. In the parish records from 1870 to 1879, the
majority of villagers, represented by eight heads of household,
were listed as farmers (bönder), who owned the lands they tilled.
But there is evidence of a process of dispossession, caused by the
purchase of forest lands by large, powerful sawmill companies. One
family head was a laborer, two were widows, two were cottagers,
and three, among them Abraham Matson, were so-called
föregångsmän, that is, farmers who had sold their land to the forest
companies but still retained the right to stay on the land and to
some of the produce from the farm. In the 1880 to 1889 parish
records, the laborer had moved away; the cottagers and
föregångsmän combined had increased to six; and three heads of
household were associated with the Gideå & Husums bolag,
probably a logging company.
234
Matson thus occupied a low position in the village hierarchy. In
1872, at the age of 72, he died, leaving a widow and two sons at the
ages of 18 (Erik Alfred) and 13 (Abraham Ansgarius). Abraham was
employed in a tailor shop (skrädderiarbetare); he remained in Yxsjö
until he moved to Umeå, in 1902. Erik Alfred was listed as
schaktmästare, probably a road worker. Undoubtedly, Erik, although
he may have been self-taught, possessed some skill in his
profession, as evidenced by the term mästare (master) and the
collection of technical notes found in his possession in North
America.2
i n 1901, at the age of 28, Erik, who now assumed the name
Oliver, came to the United States. In 1904, he took up residence in
Seattle, Washington, where he lived and worked as a laborer until
his departure for the Yukon and Alaska. His physical features were
typically Swedish. He was 5 feet 7 inches tall, with blue eyes, light
brown hair and a medium complexion. Oliver was unmarried and
had no children. In 1909, he applied for American citizenship and
i n 1910 was granted such status.3
At 9:00 p.m. on April 25, 1911, Erik Oliver set out on the long
journey from Seattle to Alaska to dig for gold. During his journey
and subsequent experiences in Alaska, he kept a detailed diary; he
also communicated by letter with fellow Swedes and Americans in
Seattle, Alaska, and the Yukon. The diary and letters are now
preserved at the National Archives of Canada in Ottawa and they
give a vivid account of the inner thoughts of a group of immigrant
Swedes in early twentieth-century America.' How representative
their views were for Swedish immigrants is difficult to tell, but it is
likely that they were shared by many itinerant immigrant workers—
those from whom we seldom have any personal records. The Oliver
Papers support the claim by Lars-Göran Tedebrand that the radical
and class consciousness of Joe Hill was shared by many Swedish
immigrants.5 Those who speak in the Oliver Papers were critical of
capitalism. They were seasoned industrial workers familiar with
and sympathetic toward socialism.
The criticism of industrial capitalism in Oliver's correspondence
underlines the significance of push, as opposed to pull, factors in
the Yukon and Alaska gold rush.6 Oliver had previously worked in
Seattle, where the economic situation was depressed. In a letter
dated November 19, 1911, Axel Bodinson gives a glimpse of the
factors which doubtless lay behind Oliver's trip to Alaska: "The
year has passed . . . a lot of people are still unemployed and will
235
probably remain so until the whole economic system is trans­formed."
The message is reinforced by K. Hägg in a letter dated
March 16, 1912: "Seattle has been almost dead this winter, almost
no work at all. I have not worked more than approximately three
weeks since the new year and the end of last year was very poor.
Big Socialist-Johnson and I started to work for S. E. Co. last week.
Do you know what these initials stand for; you yourself have been
the subject of that company if Johnson tells the truth. Yes, my dear
brother, I have sunken so deep that I am working a ten-hour day for
$2.35, car-fare included and a $1 deduction monthly for hospital,
but I hope I don't have to stay that long."
The difficult times in Seattle are, however, brightened somewhat
by the hope of a different and better future. Both Bodinson and
Hägg express similar sentiments. Hägg writes: "You have probably
read in the newspapers that socialism has made incredible progress
throughout the country. People are beginning to wake up and I
hope that within the not too distant future we are ripe for the great
reforms that are in the making." Bodinson echoes the same
sentiments when referring to the mayoral elections in Seattle: " . . .
the socialists did not succeed to get in any of their candidates, but
unafraid they are making progress. Wells, their candidate for
mayor, received 11,000 votes in the Primary Elections. Dr. J. E.
Benson, for Corporation Council, got 27,000 votes. So if they don't
encounter any set-backs, it will not take many years before they are
in power. One thing is certain, the Money Kings [Pänningekungarne]
who are currently in power both economically and politically,
cannot much longer resist the pressure for freedom and liberty by
an awakening working class." Bodinson renders these comments
in spite of having worked for the same company for seven years,
suggesting that even workingmen with steady jobs found their lives
unfulfilling. Indeed, Bodinson expresses the wish to get out onto a
little piece of land [landtäppa] as soon as possible. The dream of
socialism was also shared by one of Oliver's partners in Alaska,
Carl Johnson, who had hopes of moving back to Sweden: "I have
seen in the newspaper that they have 60 or 62 Socialists in the
Swedish Parliament [Svänska Rexdagen], so I hope for better times in
the future."
Unfortunately, the harsh conditions in Seattle did not seem to be
improved in Alaska. Bodinson writes that he has read about the life
of a gold-digger but it is only through Oliver he has learned about
its enormous suffering and difficulties. Oliver's own correspond­ence
and diary convey a similar picture.
236
Oliver's hardships started soon after his arrival in Alaska. After
having reached Rampart by boat, Oliver hiked to Eureka where he
got a job shovelling bedrock for a Captain Hoglund. He was laid off
after 14 days when the "water got too low." His payment was $5 a
day in gold dust at a rate of $15.50 per ounce. When cashed in,
however, Oliver only received $15 per ounce. But this was only a
minor set-back. A month after losing his job Oliver was still
unemployed and wrote in English on July 17, 1911: "I have been in
this place for about 25 days and have not been able to find a job.
Fort Gibbon is the name of the place. It is hard to write it down but I
believe that both God and the Devil are against me. All my partners
have got their jobs and I am left here allone. So you know that to
me, that's the same as the whole universe are against me or at least
the part of it wich belong to our solar system." Oliver continues,
almost as if he was writing with the benefit of hindsight: "But hold
on now, stop for one minute and use your common senses. If all
that exists is, against me, then I must certainly be a great something
outside of it all. Because if it was not so the allmighty power that
exists all about me would not bother themself so much to oppose
me. Well, I am going to work against all oppositions wither it is
reasonable or unreasonable and at 5.15 p.m. the same day July 16,1
got a job at the tellegraf line. It is all up to me now to se how long I
can keep it up."
Three days later, Oliver was laid off: "There is no room for
reasoning, when you have the two greatest Potentates in existens
fighting against you. You might as well give up the fight and
surrender to any penalty they chose to impose upon you. This
morning the bos find out they [sic] was one too many on the job
and of course I was that one."
We find in these entries one of the strategies of survival which
may have been common to many immigrants: a firm belief in fate.
This is confirmed in another letter, in Swedish, from Hägg to
Oliver, in which Oliver's hardships are discussed. Hägg writes:
"But since you have philosophical leanings, I presume you fight
the battle with calm and wisdom." We also learn that Hägg and
Oliver believe in "something allmighty which guides everything
for the best." Without that belief, Hägg would not want to live
"1/1,000,000 second."
After the loss of the job at the telegraph station, Oliver worked as
an itinerant laborer at various chores and in various places; these
are listed in his diary as "clearing of right of way," "longshoring,"
237
and "steamboating"; in a later correspondence we learn that Oliver
resided at the Northern Hotel, 2nd Ave., Dawson, Yukon Territory,
probably temporarily during his spell at "steamboating." Oliver
works at these jobs until the stampede on December 14, 1911,
when he stakes claim No. 14 for $10 on Sunset Creek in the Forty
Mile Country of Alaska.
The diary provides little information on Oliver's thoughts while
working the claim. On January 16, 1912, he arrives and starts to
build a cabin. Then he begins digging and firing at two places. He
spends much time constructing a windlass and making a ladder.
On March 19, we learn that Oliver is not only putting timber but
also "all my fate" into the operation. On April 23, he is mining and
discovers one little "color" of gold.
We gain more insight into Oliver's progress in a correspondence
between Oliver and Carl Johnson. In a letter dated February 3,
1912, in Rampart, Alaska, Johnson is concerned over not having
heard from Oliver. Every day before he departs for his claim
(creeken) he leaves the key at the general store in case Oliver should
come. He also writes Oliver that he does not have to worry about
the $10 he owed, " . . . there is no rush, let it be until you get a
better opportunity." Johnson also writes about the boat in which
he and Oliver traveled to Rampart, and which has still not been
sold because he thinks Oliver may want it. He informs Oliver that it
can still be sold "although the oars are gone and it looks dried
out."
Johnson also speaks of his own experiences around Rampart.
One project, a joint undertaking with "the boys," turned out
disastrously. The team worked one month on a hoisting mechan­ism,
only to see everything collapse when one fellow took off the
regulator belt to work everything faster. I got the idea, Johnson
writes, that "it was best to leave the whole business to save my
life." Johnson works a while for a daily wage five miles from
Rampart, then quits to work an old claim for himself. The cart has
to be pushed 250 feet but Johnson feels he is better off than many:
"I have panned and picked up $30, it is coarse gold so I wear out
the knees of my trousers, but I have a warm cabin and a big iron
stove and I do not long for Seattle, for I have heard that times are
bad there, and also the future looks bleak."
In a letter dated May 12, 1912, but never sent, from Oliver at
Sunset Creek to Johnson, we learn about Oliver's own experiences.
Oliver recounts to Johnson how he has worked since the end of
238
January but has yet not "struck pay." He also writes that water
broke into his mine a couple of weeks ago and that he is now bailing
while waiting for the water to sink. His partner suffers from the
same predicament and seems to have given up; he is now waiting
for the ice on the river to break up in order to go by boat to Fort
Gibbon and then by foot to Koyokuk.
Oliver himself has second thoughts about his gold-mining
venture: "If I could have found out about any work around
Rampart last spring or this fall I would probably have stayed there,
but I didn't hear anything. I did relatively well considering that I
moved around. When I quit in Dawson in December I had about
$200 coarse and $60 in gold dust but now I have spent all of it."
Oliver closes his letter by stating he will not come to Rampart; he
also advises Johnson to "take what you want in the sack and sell
the boat!"
During the winter of 1911-12, Oliver receives another set of letters
from a J. H. Croasdale, who repeatedly informs Oliver about the
job market in Dawson and Sixty Mile Country. Reference is made to
"the thawing plants 76 below on Bonanza" and Croasdale urges
Oliver to get down if he "wants some of the action." Several entries
cover Sixty Mile, for instance, "Sixty Mile is ded [sic] as Hell."
Croasdale himself is also querying Oliver on the job situation in
Alaska: "I here [sic] that thay [sic] are working on 16 above. . . . if
you can find anything about it could you let me know, [?]"
The last piece of information in the Oliver Papers is a diary entry
dated May 25, 1912: "I finish the cave and made a little fire. Got
one color."
The abrupt end to Oliver's diary has a logical explanation. Some
time during May 26, 1912, Oliver died while working in the mine
shaft. Two statements were given before the coroner who investi­gated
the death. Sergeant W. J. D. Dempster gave the following
testimony:
On Sunday the 26th May, about 1 p.m. Frank Purdy told me
that someone was calling across the river. I went over in a
canoe and found Joe Colich. He told me that Alfred Oliver was
dead down in the bottom of a shaft on claim No. 14 above on
Sunset Creek. I wired the Officer Commanding in Dawson.
The following morning I left for Sunset Creek with Colich and
a man named Emil Kruger, meeting the Coroner and Constable
Haigh at the mouth of the Creek at 2:30 p.m. On arrival at the
239
claim we found water in the shaft, and after hoisting for about
five hours we lowered the water sufficiently to see that several
boulders had sluffed off the side of the shaft and covered the
body. During the time we were hoisting the water, rocks and
dirt were continually sluffing in. Colich went to the bottom of
the shaft and attempted to move the boulders, but had to give
up the work. The shaft is about twenty eight feet deep, and not
timbered. The deceased man, Oliver was working alone on the
claim. The shaft is very dangerous, and I believe that Oliver
was killed by being struck by a falling rock.7
Joe Colich made the following statement to Coroner Telford:
I am a miner working on claim No. 16 above on Sunset
Creek. I know the dead man Oliver. He and myself were the
only men on the Creek. Oliver was working on claim No. 14
above. Last Saturday evening I saw him working on his claim.
He asked me to bring him up some tea. Sunday morning I
went to his claim with the tea. I looked in his tent but he was
not there. I then looked down his shaft and saw him lying at
the bottom. I called out to him a number of times, and getting
no answer I expected he was dead. I then hurried to Forty Mile
and notified the Police.8
Based on these statements and his own observations, Coroner
Telford submitted the following report:
After viewing the body, the position in which it was found,
and hearing the evidence, I am of opinion that death was
caused by rocks falling in from the side of the shaft, striking
deceased on the head and killing him. I consider death
accidental. I examined the shaft and found that it was about
twenty eight feet deep, not timbered, earth and rocks—some of
them very large—continually falling in from the sides, and I
consider the shaft a very dangerous one to work in.3
The Oliver Papers are important in many respects. No reference is
here made to success but to a persistent and tenacious search for
survival. The place that Oliver left, Seattle, is portrayed in them as a
hard environment and wage work, if available, as low-paid and
monotonous. These circumstances were likely to have given Oliver
strong incentives to travel to the Yukon and Alaska in search of
gold. Once in Alaska, the hardships continued. Oliver worked as
240
an itinerant laborer, then as a gold miner. The gold mining venture,
however, did not work very well and in the end it led to Oliver's
tragic death.
The Oliver Papers also reflect a strong sense of camaraderie
among a group of immigrant Swedes. In their correspondence they
lend moral and material support to each other; they also exchange
information about local labor markets in a situation when local
employment centers were missing.
The last message contained in the Oliver Papers pertains to
dreams and hopes for the future. Oliver's friends in Seattle and
Alaska pin their hopes upon future socialism in the U. S. or
Sweden and dream about a place in the country. Oliver is more
fatalistic, believing that fate will bring future prosperity.'0
NOTES
'For the reverse side of the North American success story, see for ex. Anders
Johansson, A m e r i k a — dröm eller mardröm? (Stockholm: LTs förlag, 1985); also Henry
Hanson's critical review in S w e d i s h - A m e r i c a n Historical Q u a r t e r l y (henceforth S A H Q ) ,
38 (1987): 80-83.
background information on Erik Alfred (Abrahamsson) Oliver has been acquired
from the relevant Swedish parish records.
3The personal information in this paragraph is contained in Oliver's application for
citizenship, kindly provided by the U. S. Immigration and Naturalization Service,
Washington, D. C. It here states that Oliver was born on August 4, 1 8 7 3 in "Osele,"
Sweden, which except for the year matches the Swedish parish records.
"These documents are listed under the following entry: OLIVER, Erik Alfred,
Goldminer, 7-1989 Original, 1 inch 1911-1912 Letters, chiefly in Swedish, 1912; diary
1911-12; notebook n.d. Ref. MG 30. This whole collection is referred to as the Oliver
Papers in the text.
5Lars-Göran Tedebrand, "Strikes and Political Radicalism in Sweden and Emigration
to the United States," S A H Q , 34 (1983): 194-95. Regarding itinerant workers, cf.
Byron J. Nordstrom, "Evelina Månsson and the Memoir of an Urban Labor
Migrant," S w e d i s h P i o n e e r H i s t o r i c a l Q u a r t e r l y , 31 (1980), esp. 182-83. The best
general work on Swedish political and labor radicalism is Henry Bengston,
Skandinaver på vänsterflygeln i U S A (Stockholm: Kooperativa förbundets bokförlag,
1955), of which a translation is forthcoming.
6For an account of Swedes in the Alaska gold rush, see Tord Wallström and Charles
af Forselies, Guldgrävarna. Svenska äventyrare i Alaska (Höganäs: Wiken, 1986), which
does not however give any information on Oliver, confining itself to the gold-diggers
on the Seward Peninsula (Nome, Candle, and Kotzebue).
'Yukon Archives, Government Records, YRG 1, Series 1, Vol. 41, File 28073.1 would
like to thank Charles Maier, archivist at the Yukon Libraries and Archives Branch,
Whitehorse, for providing this reference.
' I b i d .
' I b i d .
'"Vilhelm Moberg held that a belief in fate was a common Swedish trait and strategy
to cope with extreme hardships. See Vilhelm Moberg, A History of t h e Swedish People:
From Prehistory to t h e Renaissance (New York: Pantheon, 1972). The novelist Eyvind
Johnson referred to this as "hård rallarfatalism" (roughly: tough working-class
fatalism) in his Här h a r du ditt liv! (Stockholm: Bonniers, 1974; original 1935), 62.
241

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A SWEDISH GOLD-SEEKER
IN THE NORTHLANDS:
THE CASE OF ERIK ALFRED OLIVER
L. ANDERS SANDBERG
Local and individual immigration histories are often about
success rather than failure.' The hardships of establishing a
farmstead are often conveyed, but less often do we find out about
the struggles of itinerant laborers who never aspired or managed to
become farmers. This is perhaps not strange. Those who failed to
establish a farm were perhaps not articulate enough to record their
histories, nor may they have had the time to do so. Established
farmers or businessmen, perhaps when retired, or through their
children or grandchildren, were more likely and able to record their
histories. This situation has colored our conception of the immi­grant
Swedes as conservative farmers and staunch supporters of
the Republican Party. More and more material is meanwhile being
unearthed which shows that many Swedes were workers who
entertained more radical thoughts.
Erik Alfred Oliver (originally Abrahamsson) was born on August
4, 1871, in the northern Swedish parish of Åsele in Västerbotten,
the son of Abraham Matson and his wife Dorothea (nee Danielsdot­ter).
The family lived in the village of Yxsjö, a poor community
which underwent fundamental changes in the latter half of the
nineteenth century. In the parish records from 1870 to 1879, the
majority of villagers, represented by eight heads of household,
were listed as farmers (bönder), who owned the lands they tilled.
But there is evidence of a process of dispossession, caused by the
purchase of forest lands by large, powerful sawmill companies. One
family head was a laborer, two were widows, two were cottagers,
and three, among them Abraham Matson, were so-called
föregångsmän, that is, farmers who had sold their land to the forest
companies but still retained the right to stay on the land and to
some of the produce from the farm. In the 1880 to 1889 parish
records, the laborer had moved away; the cottagers and
föregångsmän combined had increased to six; and three heads of
household were associated with the Gideå & Husums bolag,
probably a logging company.
234
Matson thus occupied a low position in the village hierarchy. In
1872, at the age of 72, he died, leaving a widow and two sons at the
ages of 18 (Erik Alfred) and 13 (Abraham Ansgarius). Abraham was
employed in a tailor shop (skrädderiarbetare); he remained in Yxsjö
until he moved to Umeå, in 1902. Erik Alfred was listed as
schaktmästare, probably a road worker. Undoubtedly, Erik, although
he may have been self-taught, possessed some skill in his
profession, as evidenced by the term mästare (master) and the
collection of technical notes found in his possession in North
America.2
i n 1901, at the age of 28, Erik, who now assumed the name
Oliver, came to the United States. In 1904, he took up residence in
Seattle, Washington, where he lived and worked as a laborer until
his departure for the Yukon and Alaska. His physical features were
typically Swedish. He was 5 feet 7 inches tall, with blue eyes, light
brown hair and a medium complexion. Oliver was unmarried and
had no children. In 1909, he applied for American citizenship and
i n 1910 was granted such status.3
At 9:00 p.m. on April 25, 1911, Erik Oliver set out on the long
journey from Seattle to Alaska to dig for gold. During his journey
and subsequent experiences in Alaska, he kept a detailed diary; he
also communicated by letter with fellow Swedes and Americans in
Seattle, Alaska, and the Yukon. The diary and letters are now
preserved at the National Archives of Canada in Ottawa and they
give a vivid account of the inner thoughts of a group of immigrant
Swedes in early twentieth-century America.' How representative
their views were for Swedish immigrants is difficult to tell, but it is
likely that they were shared by many itinerant immigrant workers—
those from whom we seldom have any personal records. The Oliver
Papers support the claim by Lars-Göran Tedebrand that the radical
and class consciousness of Joe Hill was shared by many Swedish
immigrants.5 Those who speak in the Oliver Papers were critical of
capitalism. They were seasoned industrial workers familiar with
and sympathetic toward socialism.
The criticism of industrial capitalism in Oliver's correspondence
underlines the significance of push, as opposed to pull, factors in
the Yukon and Alaska gold rush.6 Oliver had previously worked in
Seattle, where the economic situation was depressed. In a letter
dated November 19, 1911, Axel Bodinson gives a glimpse of the
factors which doubtless lay behind Oliver's trip to Alaska: "The
year has passed . . . a lot of people are still unemployed and will
235
probably remain so until the whole economic system is trans­formed."
The message is reinforced by K. Hägg in a letter dated
March 16, 1912: "Seattle has been almost dead this winter, almost
no work at all. I have not worked more than approximately three
weeks since the new year and the end of last year was very poor.
Big Socialist-Johnson and I started to work for S. E. Co. last week.
Do you know what these initials stand for; you yourself have been
the subject of that company if Johnson tells the truth. Yes, my dear
brother, I have sunken so deep that I am working a ten-hour day for
$2.35, car-fare included and a $1 deduction monthly for hospital,
but I hope I don't have to stay that long."
The difficult times in Seattle are, however, brightened somewhat
by the hope of a different and better future. Both Bodinson and
Hägg express similar sentiments. Hägg writes: "You have probably
read in the newspapers that socialism has made incredible progress
throughout the country. People are beginning to wake up and I
hope that within the not too distant future we are ripe for the great
reforms that are in the making." Bodinson echoes the same
sentiments when referring to the mayoral elections in Seattle: " . . .
the socialists did not succeed to get in any of their candidates, but
unafraid they are making progress. Wells, their candidate for
mayor, received 11,000 votes in the Primary Elections. Dr. J. E.
Benson, for Corporation Council, got 27,000 votes. So if they don't
encounter any set-backs, it will not take many years before they are
in power. One thing is certain, the Money Kings [Pänningekungarne]
who are currently in power both economically and politically,
cannot much longer resist the pressure for freedom and liberty by
an awakening working class." Bodinson renders these comments
in spite of having worked for the same company for seven years,
suggesting that even workingmen with steady jobs found their lives
unfulfilling. Indeed, Bodinson expresses the wish to get out onto a
little piece of land [landtäppa] as soon as possible. The dream of
socialism was also shared by one of Oliver's partners in Alaska,
Carl Johnson, who had hopes of moving back to Sweden: "I have
seen in the newspaper that they have 60 or 62 Socialists in the
Swedish Parliament [Svänska Rexdagen], so I hope for better times in
the future."
Unfortunately, the harsh conditions in Seattle did not seem to be
improved in Alaska. Bodinson writes that he has read about the life
of a gold-digger but it is only through Oliver he has learned about
its enormous suffering and difficulties. Oliver's own correspond­ence
and diary convey a similar picture.
236
Oliver's hardships started soon after his arrival in Alaska. After
having reached Rampart by boat, Oliver hiked to Eureka where he
got a job shovelling bedrock for a Captain Hoglund. He was laid off
after 14 days when the "water got too low." His payment was $5 a
day in gold dust at a rate of $15.50 per ounce. When cashed in,
however, Oliver only received $15 per ounce. But this was only a
minor set-back. A month after losing his job Oliver was still
unemployed and wrote in English on July 17, 1911: "I have been in
this place for about 25 days and have not been able to find a job.
Fort Gibbon is the name of the place. It is hard to write it down but I
believe that both God and the Devil are against me. All my partners
have got their jobs and I am left here allone. So you know that to
me, that's the same as the whole universe are against me or at least
the part of it wich belong to our solar system." Oliver continues,
almost as if he was writing with the benefit of hindsight: "But hold
on now, stop for one minute and use your common senses. If all
that exists is, against me, then I must certainly be a great something
outside of it all. Because if it was not so the allmighty power that
exists all about me would not bother themself so much to oppose
me. Well, I am going to work against all oppositions wither it is
reasonable or unreasonable and at 5.15 p.m. the same day July 16,1
got a job at the tellegraf line. It is all up to me now to se how long I
can keep it up."
Three days later, Oliver was laid off: "There is no room for
reasoning, when you have the two greatest Potentates in existens
fighting against you. You might as well give up the fight and
surrender to any penalty they chose to impose upon you. This
morning the bos find out they [sic] was one too many on the job
and of course I was that one."
We find in these entries one of the strategies of survival which
may have been common to many immigrants: a firm belief in fate.
This is confirmed in another letter, in Swedish, from Hägg to
Oliver, in which Oliver's hardships are discussed. Hägg writes:
"But since you have philosophical leanings, I presume you fight
the battle with calm and wisdom." We also learn that Hägg and
Oliver believe in "something allmighty which guides everything
for the best." Without that belief, Hägg would not want to live
"1/1,000,000 second."
After the loss of the job at the telegraph station, Oliver worked as
an itinerant laborer at various chores and in various places; these
are listed in his diary as "clearing of right of way," "longshoring,"
237
and "steamboating"; in a later correspondence we learn that Oliver
resided at the Northern Hotel, 2nd Ave., Dawson, Yukon Territory,
probably temporarily during his spell at "steamboating." Oliver
works at these jobs until the stampede on December 14, 1911,
when he stakes claim No. 14 for $10 on Sunset Creek in the Forty
Mile Country of Alaska.
The diary provides little information on Oliver's thoughts while
working the claim. On January 16, 1912, he arrives and starts to
build a cabin. Then he begins digging and firing at two places. He
spends much time constructing a windlass and making a ladder.
On March 19, we learn that Oliver is not only putting timber but
also "all my fate" into the operation. On April 23, he is mining and
discovers one little "color" of gold.
We gain more insight into Oliver's progress in a correspondence
between Oliver and Carl Johnson. In a letter dated February 3,
1912, in Rampart, Alaska, Johnson is concerned over not having
heard from Oliver. Every day before he departs for his claim
(creeken) he leaves the key at the general store in case Oliver should
come. He also writes Oliver that he does not have to worry about
the $10 he owed, " . . . there is no rush, let it be until you get a
better opportunity." Johnson also writes about the boat in which
he and Oliver traveled to Rampart, and which has still not been
sold because he thinks Oliver may want it. He informs Oliver that it
can still be sold "although the oars are gone and it looks dried
out."
Johnson also speaks of his own experiences around Rampart.
One project, a joint undertaking with "the boys," turned out
disastrously. The team worked one month on a hoisting mechan­ism,
only to see everything collapse when one fellow took off the
regulator belt to work everything faster. I got the idea, Johnson
writes, that "it was best to leave the whole business to save my
life." Johnson works a while for a daily wage five miles from
Rampart, then quits to work an old claim for himself. The cart has
to be pushed 250 feet but Johnson feels he is better off than many:
"I have panned and picked up $30, it is coarse gold so I wear out
the knees of my trousers, but I have a warm cabin and a big iron
stove and I do not long for Seattle, for I have heard that times are
bad there, and also the future looks bleak."
In a letter dated May 12, 1912, but never sent, from Oliver at
Sunset Creek to Johnson, we learn about Oliver's own experiences.
Oliver recounts to Johnson how he has worked since the end of
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January but has yet not "struck pay." He also writes that water
broke into his mine a couple of weeks ago and that he is now bailing
while waiting for the water to sink. His partner suffers from the
same predicament and seems to have given up; he is now waiting
for the ice on the river to break up in order to go by boat to Fort
Gibbon and then by foot to Koyokuk.
Oliver himself has second thoughts about his gold-mining
venture: "If I could have found out about any work around
Rampart last spring or this fall I would probably have stayed there,
but I didn't hear anything. I did relatively well considering that I
moved around. When I quit in Dawson in December I had about
$200 coarse and $60 in gold dust but now I have spent all of it."
Oliver closes his letter by stating he will not come to Rampart; he
also advises Johnson to "take what you want in the sack and sell
the boat!"
During the winter of 1911-12, Oliver receives another set of letters
from a J. H. Croasdale, who repeatedly informs Oliver about the
job market in Dawson and Sixty Mile Country. Reference is made to
"the thawing plants 76 below on Bonanza" and Croasdale urges
Oliver to get down if he "wants some of the action." Several entries
cover Sixty Mile, for instance, "Sixty Mile is ded [sic] as Hell."
Croasdale himself is also querying Oliver on the job situation in
Alaska: "I here [sic] that thay [sic] are working on 16 above. . . . if
you can find anything about it could you let me know, [?]"
The last piece of information in the Oliver Papers is a diary entry
dated May 25, 1912: "I finish the cave and made a little fire. Got
one color."
The abrupt end to Oliver's diary has a logical explanation. Some
time during May 26, 1912, Oliver died while working in the mine
shaft. Two statements were given before the coroner who investi­gated
the death. Sergeant W. J. D. Dempster gave the following
testimony:
On Sunday the 26th May, about 1 p.m. Frank Purdy told me
that someone was calling across the river. I went over in a
canoe and found Joe Colich. He told me that Alfred Oliver was
dead down in the bottom of a shaft on claim No. 14 above on
Sunset Creek. I wired the Officer Commanding in Dawson.
The following morning I left for Sunset Creek with Colich and
a man named Emil Kruger, meeting the Coroner and Constable
Haigh at the mouth of the Creek at 2:30 p.m. On arrival at the
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claim we found water in the shaft, and after hoisting for about
five hours we lowered the water sufficiently to see that several
boulders had sluffed off the side of the shaft and covered the
body. During the time we were hoisting the water, rocks and
dirt were continually sluffing in. Colich went to the bottom of
the shaft and attempted to move the boulders, but had to give
up the work. The shaft is about twenty eight feet deep, and not
timbered. The deceased man, Oliver was working alone on the
claim. The shaft is very dangerous, and I believe that Oliver
was killed by being struck by a falling rock.7
Joe Colich made the following statement to Coroner Telford:
I am a miner working on claim No. 16 above on Sunset
Creek. I know the dead man Oliver. He and myself were the
only men on the Creek. Oliver was working on claim No. 14
above. Last Saturday evening I saw him working on his claim.
He asked me to bring him up some tea. Sunday morning I
went to his claim with the tea. I looked in his tent but he was
not there. I then looked down his shaft and saw him lying at
the bottom. I called out to him a number of times, and getting
no answer I expected he was dead. I then hurried to Forty Mile
and notified the Police.8
Based on these statements and his own observations, Coroner
Telford submitted the following report:
After viewing the body, the position in which it was found,
and hearing the evidence, I am of opinion that death was
caused by rocks falling in from the side of the shaft, striking
deceased on the head and killing him. I consider death
accidental. I examined the shaft and found that it was about
twenty eight feet deep, not timbered, earth and rocks—some of
them very large—continually falling in from the sides, and I
consider the shaft a very dangerous one to work in.3
The Oliver Papers are important in many respects. No reference is
here made to success but to a persistent and tenacious search for
survival. The place that Oliver left, Seattle, is portrayed in them as a
hard environment and wage work, if available, as low-paid and
monotonous. These circumstances were likely to have given Oliver
strong incentives to travel to the Yukon and Alaska in search of
gold. Once in Alaska, the hardships continued. Oliver worked as
240
an itinerant laborer, then as a gold miner. The gold mining venture,
however, did not work very well and in the end it led to Oliver's
tragic death.
The Oliver Papers also reflect a strong sense of camaraderie
among a group of immigrant Swedes. In their correspondence they
lend moral and material support to each other; they also exchange
information about local labor markets in a situation when local
employment centers were missing.
The last message contained in the Oliver Papers pertains to
dreams and hopes for the future. Oliver's friends in Seattle and
Alaska pin their hopes upon future socialism in the U. S. or
Sweden and dream about a place in the country. Oliver is more
fatalistic, believing that fate will bring future prosperity.'0
NOTES
'For the reverse side of the North American success story, see for ex. Anders
Johansson, A m e r i k a — dröm eller mardröm? (Stockholm: LTs förlag, 1985); also Henry
Hanson's critical review in S w e d i s h - A m e r i c a n Historical Q u a r t e r l y (henceforth S A H Q ) ,
38 (1987): 80-83.
background information on Erik Alfred (Abrahamsson) Oliver has been acquired
from the relevant Swedish parish records.
3The personal information in this paragraph is contained in Oliver's application for
citizenship, kindly provided by the U. S. Immigration and Naturalization Service,
Washington, D. C. It here states that Oliver was born on August 4, 1 8 7 3 in "Osele,"
Sweden, which except for the year matches the Swedish parish records.
"These documents are listed under the following entry: OLIVER, Erik Alfred,
Goldminer, 7-1989 Original, 1 inch 1911-1912 Letters, chiefly in Swedish, 1912; diary
1911-12; notebook n.d. Ref. MG 30. This whole collection is referred to as the Oliver
Papers in the text.
5Lars-Göran Tedebrand, "Strikes and Political Radicalism in Sweden and Emigration
to the United States," S A H Q , 34 (1983): 194-95. Regarding itinerant workers, cf.
Byron J. Nordstrom, "Evelina Månsson and the Memoir of an Urban Labor
Migrant," S w e d i s h P i o n e e r H i s t o r i c a l Q u a r t e r l y , 31 (1980), esp. 182-83. The best
general work on Swedish political and labor radicalism is Henry Bengston,
Skandinaver på vänsterflygeln i U S A (Stockholm: Kooperativa förbundets bokförlag,
1955), of which a translation is forthcoming.
6For an account of Swedes in the Alaska gold rush, see Tord Wallström and Charles
af Forselies, Guldgrävarna. Svenska äventyrare i Alaska (Höganäs: Wiken, 1986), which
does not however give any information on Oliver, confining itself to the gold-diggers
on the Seward Peninsula (Nome, Candle, and Kotzebue).
'Yukon Archives, Government Records, YRG 1, Series 1, Vol. 41, File 28073.1 would
like to thank Charles Maier, archivist at the Yukon Libraries and Archives Branch,
Whitehorse, for providing this reference.
' I b i d .
' I b i d .
'"Vilhelm Moberg held that a belief in fate was a common Swedish trait and strategy
to cope with extreme hardships. See Vilhelm Moberg, A History of t h e Swedish People:
From Prehistory to t h e Renaissance (New York: Pantheon, 1972). The novelist Eyvind
Johnson referred to this as "hård rallarfatalism" (roughly: tough working-class
fatalism) in his Här h a r du ditt liv! (Stockholm: Bonniers, 1974; original 1935), 62.
241